Your run through some key Q3 headlines from BUSINESSiQ

BANKS GROUP: County Durham-based the Banks Group has reported an operating profit of £11 million for the year ending September 30, 2024, up from a loss of £7.2 million after tax in 2023.

DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: John Barnes has been named the new chief executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, and will lead in separating leadership arrangements for Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and the South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).

ESH CONSTRUCTION: The construction company secured a £160 million contract with Northumbrian Water for the management of the region’s wastewater network.

INVESTMENT: The North East saw its strongest year for foreign investment since 2017, according to EY’s latest UK Attractiveness Survey

CRACKER: A vital era in North East industry looked to have ended, with news that the giant Cracker facility at Wilton is closing after almost 50 years.

OSBIT: A growing offshore wind engineering firm has unveiled a major new facility in the North East. Northumberland-based Osbit Ltd has opened a 3,350-square-metre assembly and service site at the Port of Blyth.

NETA: Work began on a new £14.7m specialist engineering training centre in the North East. The new NETA Training facility in Thornaby will help teach learners the skills needed in the engineering and construction industries.

TEESWORKS: The world’s biggest offshore wind farm signed a lease agreement for up to 300,000 square metres of port space in the North East. The area, at Steel River Quay on the Teesworks site, will support construction of Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 wind farm

PD PORTS: A global investor snapped up a 49 per cent stake in PD Ports. The Teesside-based ports and logistics business has announced that Pontegadea Inversiones has agreed to acquire a stake in the company from Brookfield Asset Management.

IMPACT: A group of North East business leaders – all partners in The Northern Echo’s Impact campaign – held an exclusive meeting with Government officials at the Darlington Economic Campus.

Impact partnmrs meet at DEC. Picture: Stuart Boulton

NECC: A new partnership was formed to support start-ups and small businesses across the North East. The North East Chamber of Commerce has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with North East Enterprise Agencies Ltd (NEEAL), which represents seven enterprise agencies.

LEGAL MERGER: A UK Top 100 law firm based in the North East has announced a merger with a successful law partnership. Ward Hadaway and The Endeavour Partnership LLP will now operate under the Ward Hadaway name and identity.

GREGGS: Greggs revealed that pre-tax profits fell by 14.3% to £63.5 million for the half-year to June 28.

ESH GROUP: Profits increased by 80% in the latest financial results posted by North of England contractor, Esh Group.

SAGE: Sage, the Newcastle-based global leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll software for small and mid-sized businesses, has become the EFL’s official accounting software partner.

BUSINESSiQ: The Northern Echo launched the 2026 BUSINESSiQ Awards in partnership with one of the world’s biggest brands. They will be at The Hilton Newcastle Gateshead on Wednesday, April 22.

SARA DAVIES: The CountyDurham entrepreneur and former star of Dragons’ Den, announced a new owner for her Newton Aycliffe-based Crafter’s Companion business – but has pledged she will stay at the firm she founded.

ELON MUSK: County Durham tech firm Filtronic secured its biggest contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX – worth more than £47million.

GIGAPARK: One of the UK’s highest-capacity battery parks is to be built on Teesside. NatPower UK has secured an agreement with Sembcorp for a 32-acre site at Wilton International in Redcar to deliver a 1GW / 8GWh lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

CRYOGENICS: Noblegen Cryogenics, a manufacturer of liquid nitrogen generators, has relocated to a 19,300 sq ft facility at Boldon Business Park in South Tyneside, bringing together its head office, design, and UK manufacturing operations under one roof.

TEESLINK: Rula Developments has secured planning consent for the 54-acre Teeslink site in Stockton-on-Tees, with the potential to support up to 1,000 jobs through the delivery of 775,000 sq ft of employment space.

PORT OF TYNE: A jobs bonanza is set to hit Tyneside with a £150 million upgrade of the Port of Tyne creating thousands of jobs in offshore wind and manufacturing.

AI: An AI Growth Zone in the North East is set to unlock more than 5,000 new jobs and bring in £30 billion in investment as the region becomes a hub for AI development, anchored by major data centre sites in Blyth and Cobalt Park near Newcastle.

NORTHERN STUDIOS: A major £33.5 million expansion of film and TV production facilities in a North East town has been approved. The investment will be used to upgrade The Northern Studios in Hartlepool, including the construction of larger studios and the installation of industry-leading equipment.

DURATA: A North East firm has launched a new modular data centre designed to support the growing needs of AI. The company says the prefabricated data centre is engineered for rapid deployment and offers 20 megawatts of compute capacity in a modular, scalable format.

MPI: The Materials Processing Institute has appointed Chris Oswin as its new chief executive officer after the unexpected departure of Terry Walsh.

PNEUMA GROUP: Parkers Chauffeurs, based near Newcastle International Airport, has been acquired by Teesside-based Pneuma Group and will become the cornerstone of the group’s newly launched Pneuma Automotive division.

RED: RED Driver Training, based in Billingham, secured £13m funding from NatWest to expand its business, which includes both retail and corporate driver training services.